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San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson suffered a right shoulder posterior dislocation during Spurs open gym.
While he will miss the start of preseason, the team expects that Johnson will be available for the start of the 2022-23 regular season.
Per the San Antonio Express-News, “the 22-year-old forward averaged 17 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assist last season, while shooting 39.8 percent from 3-point range. All of those were career highs.”
The New Orleans Pelicans have signed forwards John Butler and Zylan Cheatham.
The signings are likely just for training camp.
And in a related move, the Pelicans have waived two-way guard Izaiah Brockington.
Butler, 7-2, 174, played one collegiate season at Florida State, where he averaged 5.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 31 games. During his rookie campaign, Butler led the Seminoles with 33 three-point shots made as he became the first true freshman in school history to lead Florida State in three-point shots made and three-point field goal shooting percentage (.393). In the 2022 NBA 2K Summer League, Butler appeared in four games (two starts) for the Pelicans, averaging 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks while shooting 12-of-16 (.750) from the floor and 6-of-9 (.667) from three-point range.
Cheatham, 6-5, 220, most recently played professionally for the Utah Jazz, appearing in one game. During the 2021-22 NBA season, Cheatham played in four games for New Orleans, averaging 3.0 points, 0.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per contest while shooting .667 from the floor. During the 2022 NBA 2K Summer League, Cheatham played five games with the Milwaukee Bucks posting averages of 6.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.8 steals.
Brockington, 6-4, 196, most recently played collegiately for Iowa State University, earning All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2022 after averaging 16.9 points and 6.8 rebounds, to go along with 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals. Over his four-year collegiate career, Brockington appeared in 125 games for St. Bonaventure, Penn State and Iowa State, averaging 10.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
New Orleans’ roster now stands at 20 players, including one two-way player.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have hired Chip Engelland and Grant Gibbs as assistant coaches.
Engelland and Gibbs join current Thunder assistants Dave Bliss, Mike Wilks and David Akinyooye, as well as Assistant Coach/Player Development Eric Maynor and Assistant Coach/Program Development Connor Johnson, on Head Coach Mark Daigneault’s staff.
Additionally, Kameron Woods has been named head coach of the Oklahoma City Blue.
Engelland joins the Thunder with 23 years of NBA coaching experience. He spent the last 17 seasons with the Spurs as an assistant coach, where he won two NBA championships (2007, 2014). The California native began his coaching career as a shooting analyst for the Detroit Pistons before transitioning to work for the Nuggets for two seasons as director of player of development. A graduate of Duke University, Engelland played four seasons for the Blue Devils, becoming team captain in his senior year. He also enjoyed a nine-year professional playing career in the Philippines, Canada and the CBA.
Gibbs joins the Thunder bench after serving as head coach of the Blue for the past three seasons. He becomes the third Blue head coach to join the Thunder coaching staff. During the 2021-22 season, Gibbs helped lead the Blue to the Championship Game in the first year of the G League Showcase Championship Cup. He joined the Thunder organization originally as a Blue assistant coach in 2017 after a three-year international playing career that included stints in the Netherlands and Germany. Gibbs enjoyed a successful collegiate playing career at Gonzaga and later at Creighton where he served as team captain.
Woods is set to take over head coaching duties with the Blue after spending the past four seasons with the organization, most recently serving as a Thunder assistant coach. The Butler product played two seasons with the Blue (2015-2017) before starting his coaching career. This past July, Woods served as head coach of the Thunder’s summer league team where he led Oklahoma City to a record of 5-3 during summer league competition in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
The New Orleans Pelicans announced today basketball operations and coaching staff promotions and additions ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Sammy Gelfand has been hired as senior director of basketball analytics. Former Birmingham Squadron head coach Ryan Pannone has been added to the Pelicans’ coaching staff as an assistant coach. Jordan Kincaide has been added to the training staff as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Additionally, Ryan Frazier has been promoted to assistant coach. Corey Brewer and Darnell Lazare have been elevated to assistant coach/player development coach. Brandon Demas has been promoted to two-way coach. Jordan McGuire has been promoted to player development assistant/assistant shooting coach. D’Or Fischer has been elevated to player development assistant.
The Portland Trail Blazers have signed forward Wes Iwundu to a contract, it was announced today by General Manager Joe Cronin.
The deal is reportedly for training camp purposes.
An NBA veteran of five seasons, Iwundu has appeared in 226 career games (51 starts) and accrued averages of 4.4 points (40.8% FG, 79.8% FT), 2.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 16.9 minutes per game for Orlando (2017-20), Dallas (2020-21), New Orleans (2020-21) and Atlanta (2021-22).
Boston Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari has undergone left knee revision ACL repair.
The surgery was performed by Celtics Team Physician Dr. Tony Schena at New England Baptist Hospital. Dr. Schena was assisted by Dr. Paul Weitzel, with Dr. Brian Cole also consulting on the case.
Per the Boston Globe, “Gallinari tore the same ligament in 2013. The Celtics didn’t provide a timeline for his return. But such injuries typically involve a recovery process of up to a year, meaning it would be unlikely for the veteran to play this season.”
The Detroit Pistons announced today offseason promotions and additions within the team’s basketball and business operations departments.
On the basketball operations side, George David has been elevated to Associate General Manager; Rob Murphy has been promoted to Assistant General Manager for Pistons and President of Motor City Cruise; Josh Bartelstein and Tony Leotti have been promoted to Assistant General Managers. Eric Tellem has been promoted to Senior Director of Pro Scouting and Jon Phelps has been promoted to Senior Director of Basketball Strategy. Jamal James has joined the organization as Director of College Scouting.
In player health and performance, Sebastian Poirier has been named Senior Director of Medical, Rachel Cutts has been named Head Athletic Trainer/Senior Physical Therapist and Trent Salo has been promoted to Senior Director of Sports Performance.
The following additions were also announced on the coaching staff – Keith Bogans, Rashard Lewis and Brandon Bailey have joined the staff as Assistant Coach/Player Development Coach and Brittni Donaldson has joined the organization as Assistant Coach/Director of Coaching Analytics.
On the Motor City Cruise side of basketball operations, Ben Carloni has been promoted to General Manager and Stacey Lovelace has been named Assistant General Manager for the Motor City Cruise and special assistant to General Manager Troy Weaver.
Within the organization’s business operations, Dan Lefton has been elevated to SVP & Chief Revenue Officer; Alicia Jeffreys has been elevated to SVP & Chief Marketing Officer; Nicolet Lewis has been elevated to SVP & Chief People Officer; and Kevin Grigg has been elevated to SVP & Chief Communications Officer.
The San Antonio Spurs today announced multiple additions and promotions within the team’s coaching and basketball operations staff.
In the Spurs front office, the team has promoted Dave Telep to Vice President of Basketball Operations and David Kaplan to Manager of Basketball Analytics.
San Antonio’s coaching staff has added Candice Dupree in Player Development. The team has also promoted Willis Hall and Greg Stiemsma in Player Development, Josh Brannon to Head Video Coordinator, and Kenny Trevino as Assistant Video Coordinator.
In the Spurs medical and performance group, the team has added Carlos Sosa Marin as Athletic Performance Coach. San Antonio has also promoted Chastity Chov to Assistant Athletic Trainer and Ryan Curtis to Performance Coach.
Brannon is named the Spurs Head Video Coordinator after serving last season as San Antonio’s Assistant Video Coordinator. He also spent two seasons as a Quality Assurance Assistant in the video department from 2019-21. Brannon coached at Shawnee Mission East High School from 2016-18. The Houston native played at Southwestern Community College and Panola Junior College before spending his final three seasons at Rockhurst University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business communication in 2016. Brannon also worked in basketball camps for the Spurs Sports Academy since 2010, serving as a Camp Director from 2016 until he joined the coaching staff in 2019.
Chov becomes the Spurs Assistant Athletic Trainer after spending last season as San Antonio’s Medical Assistant II. Joining the organization in 2020, she spent the 2020-21 season as the Austin Spurs Assistant Athletic Trainer. Prior to the Silver and Black, Chov served as the University of Nevada’s Associate Director of Sports Medicine in 2019-20, working with the men’s basketball team. Chov earned a master’s degree from Michigan State in 2019 while working with the Spartans football and men’s basketball teams and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017.
Curtis enters his fourth season with the Spurs after spending two years as Athletic Performance Data Manager for the Spurs from 2019-21. He was previously the Director of Athlete Performance and Safety at the Korey Stringer Institute (University of Connecticut) after working as a strength coach and athletic trainer for the US Marine Corps, US Tennis Association and privately for professional tennis players on the ATP/WTA World Tour. Curtis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Culver-Stockton College in 2006, finished a master’s degree in kinesiology from Kansas State in 2009 and earned a PhD in exercise science from UConn in 2019.
Dupree joins the Spurs after playing 16 years in the WNBA, where she currently stands fifth in league history in career points scored (6,895). A seven-time WNBA All-Star and 2014 Champion with the Phoenix Mercury, Dupree also suited up for Chicago, Indiana, Seattle and Atlanta in her run that currently ranks her third all-time in made field goals, fifth in games played, as well as seventh in total rebounds. After playing four years for Dawn Staley at Temple from 2002-06, she was selected by the Sky with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft. The Tampa, Florida native has also played professionally in Poland, Slovakia, Russia, China, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Dupree was part of the coaching staff for the Spurs at the 2022 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Hall spent last season as San Antonio’s Player Development Assistant. Previously with the Spurs for three seasons as Video Coordinator from 2018-21, he enters his seventh season in San Antonio after starting with the team as a Quality Assurance Assistant in the video department in 2016. Prior to joining the Silver and Black, Hall played professionally for two seasons in Portugal and Luxembourg. The Charlotte native played four seasons at the College of Charleston, appearing in 137 games in his career from 2009-14.
Kaplan becomes the Spurs Manager of Basketball Analytics after spending the past four seasons as San Antonio’s Senior Data Scientist. Prior to joining the Silver and Black, Kaplan spent three seasons from 2015-18 with the Charlotte Hornets as Manger of Basketball Analytics and Quantitative Analyst after spending the 2014-15 season with the Portland Trail Blazers as Statistical Programmer. Kaplan graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Chemistry in 2013.
Sosa Marin joins the Spurs from Real Madrid Baloncesto in Spain, where he has spent the last eight years as the strength and conditioning coach and re-conditioning specialist for the EuroLeague team. He also spent time as an associated professor in Health and Medicine at the Universidad Europea de Madrid from 2014-22, teaching Sport Physiotherapy. Prior to Real Madrid, the Spanish native was the Head of Strength and Conditioning, as well as the Head of Physical Therapy, for 15 years from 1999-2014 for Club Estudiantes, where he also coached the organization’s youth teams. Sosa Martin holds a PhD in Sports Science from Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Stiemsma spent last season in the Spurs video room after spending two seasons as a Player Development Associate with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2019-21. He played four seasons in the NBA with Boston, Minnesota, New Orleans and Toronto. Following four years at the University of Wisconsin from 2004-08, Stiemsma played overseas in Turkey and Korea before suiting up for the Sioux Falls Skyforce and winning NBA D-League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010. Making his NBA debut with the Celtics in 2011, he also participated in training camp with Portland and Orlando. Stiemsma was on the coaching staff for the Spurs Summer League team in 2022.
Telep is entering his 10th season with the Spurs. San Antonio’s Director of Player Personnel from 2019-22, Telep previously served as the team’s Director of Scouting from 2016-19 after starting with the Spurs in 2013 as the team’s Scouting Coordinator. Prior to joining the Silver and Black, he served as ESPN.com’s senior national recruiting analyst. He also spent time as a sideline reporter for ESPNU and as a studio analyst for Recruiting Nation. Telep has also served on the USA Developmental National Committee for the USA National Team.
Trevino spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs after serving as a coaching assistant with Austin in 2019-20. First joining the Spurs organization as a ball boy for San Antonio in 2012, Trevino later became an assistant equipment manager for the team in the 2016-17 season. He worked in San Antonio’s video room from 2016-19 before joining Austin’s coaching staff. The Laredo, Texas, native graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2016.
Boston Celtics center Robert Williams has undergone arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies and address swelling in his left knee.
The surgery was performed by Celtics Team Physician Dr. Tony Schena at New England Baptist Hospital.
Williams is expected to return to basketball activities in 8-12 weeks.
The Boston Celtics have suspended head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 NBA season for violations of team policies.
The suspension takes effect immediately.
The team says that a decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date.
Via Boston.com:
Per reports, Udoka was suspended for having an “intimate, consensual” relationship with a Celtics staffer. He reportedly does not intend to resign as he awaits the Celtics’ decision on his future status.
In his first season as Celtics coach, Udoka helped the team turn what started as a disappointing season into its most successful run since 2010. The Celtics were the hottest team in basketball over the second half of last season and made a run to the NBA Finals, where they were eliminated by the Warriors in six games.